And that boys and girls is exactly how it starts. Is history no longer required in schools?

Let’s see how many other times throughout history have the people been willing to put up with violations to their civil liberties in order to ‘protect the state’. Hmmm, now let’s see where have I heard about things like this before?

Nazi Germany comes to mind. “Oh but that was not Americans, we would never go that far!” I hear you say.

So let’s look a little closer to home, you know, on American soil.

Colonial Massachusetts 1692-1693 Salem Witch Trials. “Too old!”; I hear you cry; “We are more civilized now!”, or so you say.

Well let’s jump forward 250+ years to say the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Do you know what I am referring to?

Mcarthy’s famous ‘red’s under our beds’ campaign. Surely you learned about this in school if you aren’t old enough to have lived through it.

Now today we have the “Patriot Act” and the great fear of terrorism. Where people are stripped of privacy and secretly spied upon because they might be a terrorist. Oddly, many people say “I have nothing to hide.” At least until they have unwittingly become a target, and someone decides that childhood friend is an enemy of the state; your college dorm mate; your neighbor; the person you work with…

What do these (and other examples) have in common? They all used fear as a means to alienate people and make them turn against each other under the illusion of an ongoing conspiracy. They were all in search of an invisible enemy who caused ‘some sort of damage to society’.

Most importantly all were exploited by various powerful individuals to gain power due to the paranoia of the average person.

So go ahead sheeple, let your government leaders take you down the road to the slaughter house. Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.